USI women want to avoid another slow start

Just when the University of Southern Indiana women's basketball team had done enough to climb into the national rankings at No. 23, the Screaming Eagles did something that likely will cost them by losing 68-59 at Kentucky Wesleyan Monday night.

Now the Eagles need to regroup to play at Wisconsin-Parkside at 5:15 p.m. today.

"We built this team on defense, rebounding and taking care of the basketball," said USI coach Rick Stein. "We didn't do any of that in the first half Monday (against Wesleyan).

"We had nine turnovers on the road and they made us pay. We're going to have to play two halves of basketball (tonight)."

"It's going to be a war in the paint," said Stein. "We're going to have to be ready. We need Mary O'Keefe to stay out of foul trouble. We need her to play more than the 14 minutes she played Monday (before fouling out). She has a knack for making other people better."

One Eagle Stein said he didn't have to worry about was sophomore Anna Hackert, the former standout at Memorial. Hackert is coming off a 14-point, 20-rebound, four-assist game against the Panthers.

"Anna is the hardest working player we've got," said Stein. "She always strives to get better because she wants this team to be successful."

Stein said USI (13-2, 5-2) had simple goals against the Rangers.

"We've gotten off to bad starts two straight games," he said. "We can't fall behind 9-0 or 10-0 like the last two games. Monday we didn't defend at all in the first half, so we have to do a better job there. We need two solid halves."